April
2, 2007 — NOAA announced today the
deployment of three new Deep-ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunami,
or DART, stations
in the Pacific Ocean, located off southern and central Mexico and Costa
Rica. These newly installed stations provide added tsunami detection
capabilities for Hawaii, Alaska, Guam, America Samoa and countries in
the Pacific. (Click NOAA image for larger view of DART buoy
deployments as of March 2007. Click
here for high resolution version. Please credit “NOAA.”)

"The
DARTs are part of an ongoing effort to increase the U.S. tsunami warning
capability," said retired Navy Vice Adm. Conrad
C. Lautenbacher, Ph.D., undersecretary of commerce for oceans and
atmosphere and NOAA administrator. "Our detection capabilities
also feed into the Global Earth Observation System of Systems, which
means our data are part of a shared network that benefits the global
community."

This deployment
brings the total U.S. network to 28 DART stations. The array is expected
to total 39 stations by spring 2008. NOAA also provided a DART station
and technical expertise for the Indian Ocean tsunami warning program.

As waves
travel across open waters, the DART stations provide real-time
tsunami detection to forecasters at the NOAA tsunami warning centers.
Each DART station consists of a bottom pressure sensor that is anchored
to the seafloor and a companion moored surface buoy. An acoustic link
transmits data from the bottom pressure sensor to the surface buoy,
and then satellite links relay the data to ground stations.

The DART
network complements other parts of the U.S. tsunami warning program,
including NOAA's network of tide stations, forecast models for at-risk
communities and the TsunamiReady education program.

NOAA, an
agency of the U.S. Commerce Department,
is celebrating 200 years
of science and service to the nation. From the establishment of
the Survey of the Coast in 1807 by Thomas Jefferson to the formation
of the Weather Bureau and the Commission of Fish and Fisheries in the
1870s, much of America's scientific heritage is rooted in NOAA. NOAA
is dedicated to enhancing economic security and national safety through
the prediction and research of weather and climate-related events and
information service delivery for transportation, and by providing environmental
stewardship of the nation's coastal and marine resources. Through the
emerging Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS),
NOAA is working with its federal partners, more than 60 countries and
the European Commission to develop a global monitoring network that
is as integrated as the planet it observes, predicts and protects.